Knitknacks Baby Owl Kit

Cuddly but not tiny

I was most excited when I spotted this Knitknack owl kit on notonthehighstreet.com. It came in two sizes -baby and cushion. My husband persuaded me that baby size would be best as my younger cat, Dexter, has a penchant for woolly cushions, especially alpaca ones. So, baby it was, costing £22.50.

The kit was complete in terms of providing needles, yarn, stuffing, buttons, and even a sewing up needle. It all came in a brown paper bag, which I always think is a lovely way to package knitting goods.

The owl was knitted on 6.5mm needles in two parts for the front and the back.  The yarn provided was 100g of really soft chunky baby alpaca in a brown/caramel twist shade from a US company called Catalina. The front of the owl is mostly knitted in stocking stitch but with a clever moss stitch design to define the wings. The ears are also knitted in moss stitch.

The back of the owl is the same as the front minus the moss stitch wings. However, I did hit a bit of a snag that earlier in my knitted career would have sent me over the edge. I ran out of yarn just before the ears on the back piece. I knew it was touch and go as I'd weighed the yarn at the half way stage and only had 48g left. Anyway, a mental review of my stash revealed some Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds Chunky in brown that was the right weight and would just about blend in colour-wise. The backs of the ears would simply look a little more textured.

Textured not odd

Once that drama was over, I created the owl's face. The kit thoughtfully provides two crochet circles for the outer eyes. I don't like it when knitting kits assume you can also crochet, although I could just about manage a circle now. The circles came with yarn attached to the outer circle for sewing the circle to the owl and then the inner circle so you could sew on the coconut shell buttons for the pupils. Nifty. I then used the contrast yarn to make a simple V-shaped beak.

To make up the owl, I back stitched the two halves rights sides together with the Rowan yarn, leaving the bottom open. I think using mattress stitch for shaped pieces that will be stuffed is kind of a waste of time and you get a more secure result from the back stitching. Once sewn, I turned the owl the right way out and stuffed it with the toy filling provided. I then mattress stitched the cast on edges together at the bottom.

I do like to embellish, so the final flourish was a cream felt bow from stash, that I attached to one of the ears with a corduroy brad.

The finished owl is really squishy and huggable, but not so tiny at approx 14 inches high by 10 inches wide.

Now, where can I hide it from that pesky cat...

Alpaca loving cat

Melx

Knitted Ferdinand Fox

Foxy obsession...

I have recently replaced my owl obsession with a fox obsession and I've been looking for a cute one to knit for a while. So, when I saw Val Pierce's Ferdinand fox pattern in Lets Knit magazine, I decided to give it a whirl.


The fox in the magazine was made using Stylecraft Life DK. I went for a more luxe fox using Rowan Kid Classic that I bought from Laughing Hens. They were even nice enough to go through the shade card and choose a suitably foxy colour for me.


The fox was knitted on 4mm straight needles as a traditional toy knit in separate pieces. So that was two arms, two legs, a body, a bib, a head, a tail, four ear pieces and a nose. Phew! Much of it was very similar in terms of increasing, knitting even and decreasing in stocking stitch.


I made a couple of minor alterations to the design - I missed out the black tail tip and back of ears as I thought the fox looked better in just orange and cream. I also used safety eyes rather than embroidered ones.


I exercised my usual discipline in making up by sewing and stuffing each piece as it was knitted. I back stitched most of the pieces as (1) I find stocking stitch unrewarding on shaped pieces, and (2) you can't tell on a toy anyway.



Dismembered fox parts

Having dutifully made up all the body parts, I found myself strangely procrastinating over sewing the fox together. Once I finally got down to it on a rainy Saturday morning (not that there's been any other kind in the UK of late), I worked out the problem. It was hard.


I don't have much faith in my arm and leg positioning anyway, but I looked carefully at the magazine photos and got them roughly correct. Then for the head. Wobbly head syndrome is the bane of toy construction. I toyed with inserting a dowel or pipecleaner to hold it up, but DH, who is an expert on model construction, thought it just needed more stitches. About a gazillion of them. Similar issue with the tail - to make the fox balance you need to attach a fair amount of the surface area of the tail to the body.


Finally, Ferdinand behaved himself and sat up straight like a good fox. To finish him, I knitted his black nose and sewed it on with a bit of light padding. I embroidered his eyebrows and then ran a length of cream yarn along the line between the orange and cream sections on his head to define his snout.

I'm surprised you can see me for all that wool in the background

Ferdinand is about 8 inches sitting and I find myself quite pleased that he: (a) broadly resembles the fox in the magazine, and (b) is pretty sweet.

Melx

Mini Intarsia Cushion

Knit Now Issue 8
I was very excited when I saw Elly Doyle's Graphic Cushions project in Issue 8 of specialist accessory magazine, Knit Now. One cushion featured mushrooms and the other cute Russian dolls. The Russian doll design was my favourite but gave me a bit of a dilemma. A full-sized nine-doll cushion would (a) take ages, and (b) require the purchase of new yarn. I am currently aiming to knit from stash until I go to Woolfest next week. with that in mind, I decided to make a mini cushion featuring just one repetition of the doll chart.

For the background of the cushion and the bottom of the doll, I used some cream and purple blue-faced Leicester DK I had in stash. Unfortunately, I didn't have a third colour in that yarn so tried a pale pink alpaca DK.

I find that the trouble with intarsia is that it's easy to lose concentration and miss a colour change, especially in the middle. Indeed, I mucked up shortly after introducing the alpaca for the top half of the doll. I tried to pull it back, but that's kind of tough with intarsia. So,I gritted my teeth and started again...

On the second attempt, I took the opportunity to add more background stitches and rows so the design wasn't so close to the edges of the cushion. I also switched to a hot pink Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK for the top of the doll as I found the alpaca didn't work well with the other yarn.

This time I managed to complete the design with only the odd stitch out of place (see if you can spot where :). I used yarn bobbins for the different sections of colour as I find this reduces tangling quite a bit. Afterwards, I pressed and sprayed the front of the cushion by way of blocking.

Having completed the front, I knitted a two-tone back piece in stocking stitch from the leftover blue faced Leicester. I then decorated the doll with a button for her tummy and an embroidered face.

To make up, I back stitched around three sides of the cushion, wrong sides together (I don't see the point of mattress stitch for a sealed cushion). I then turned the cushion the right way out and stuffed with toy filler. Finally, I mattress stitched the bottom edges together.

So, a cute yet challenging stash buster on only two tries...

Melx

Knitted and Crochted Headbands

Hair accessory frenzy
As I've mentioned before, I don't tend to enjoy making more than one of the same thing. That said, I do love a theme. Hence, ending up with these three headbands rather than one.

The starting point was Diane Grimshaw's Beautiful Bands Project in Simply Homemade Issue 17. My effort is a combination of the Knitting Pretty and Bobbles in Blue designs. All the headbands I've used are thin, plastic bands that I picked up in the Accessorize sale. For this version, you first had to knit a cover for the band using 5mm needles and DK. My hot pink yarn is Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk. You essentially knit a strip in moss stitch that you then oversew it onto the band. I was a bit sceptical that the knitting would be the right size for my band and indeed it took me two attempts to get it right. Once sewn on, I glued the strip to the ends of the headband for extra security.

The second part of the design was to wrap around some biased binding, secured to the knitted strip at each end with a few stitches. I used some rather posh Liberty biased binding from Clothkits. Finally, I glued on a couple of dense pom poms from my stash.

By this stage, I'd got to thinking that it would be easier to cover the headband in crochet as you would  keep going until the headband was covered rather than needing to guess the size. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite work out how to double crochet over the headband. I took myself to YouTube and finally figured it out from watching this video many times over.
Having created a cover from black DK, I simply glued on a cute felt heart embellishment from Blooming Felt.

Flushed with success, I finished with this crochet tiara from a PDF pattern from Cheryl Cambras's Etsy Shop. The pattern began with the same double crochet covering and then used doubles, trebles and skipped stitches to create the tiara shape. I used some leftover Debbie Bliss Glen yarn and a size G (4.25mm) hook.  I'm not sure my version is perfect, but in fact it's my favourite of the three. Unfortunately, my husband says I'm not allowed to wear the tiara outside the house...

So, there's my headband jag and I've a few plain headbands left for when inspiration next strikes.

Melx

Crochet Storage Jar Covers

Minimalist Me

I love to use decorated jam jars to store my crafty notions like buttons, pom poms and embellishments. I'd had a couple of empty jars languishing on the dish drainer for months when I re-read The Joy of Less by Francine Jay. The books includes a section on re-using food jars around the house, which spurred me on. However, I don't think Miss Minimalist would approve of the number of jars I have or what I keep in them...

First, the tedious job of cleaning the jars. I had already soaked them and disposed of the remnants of their original contents. However, I gave them another soak and scrubbed off the labels. I then used lighter fuel to remove the last of the glue.

For the jar covers, I used a simplified version of the storage jars pattern in Claire Montgomerie's Crochet for Children book. I know, it's coming to something when you have to simplify a pattern intended for kids and rated "easy" at that. The specific changes were that I used variegated yarn rather than stripes in multiple colours and I used continuous spiral thought rather than slip stitching at the end of the round.

First up was a former Tesco Finest Olives jar. I used a lovely purple aran yarn from stash with a 4.25mm hook. I crocheted a flat circle using a 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42 double crochet pattern. Once the circle was just a little smaller than the base of the jar, I worked even in rounds until the cosy reached the lid of the jar. You need the cosy to be a little smaller than the jar so it fits snugly around using the natural stretch of the yarn.

The second jar used to contain Jo Malone body creme, so it's good to get my money's worth from the jar. This time I used a lovely, soft, hand-dyed chunky, which I've lovingly christened "rainbow vomit", but in a good way. Same process but with a 5mm hook this time.

Normally, I decorate the lids of the jars only, so I can see the contents. Obviously, the cosies hide the contents, so I decided it would be sensible to decorate the lid with a sample of what's in there; plastic flower and heart buttons in the purple jar and wooden buttons in the rainbow jar.I simply glued the buttons onto the lids with Bostik All Purpose glue.

The cosies were very quick and satisfying to make and the pattern works with any size of jar as you just keep increasing by 6 stitches per round until you get the desired base diameter.

Well, I may be a crummy minimalist but my jar re-use is beyond reproach...

Melx

Knitted Notebook Cover & Felted Crochet Bowl

Simply Knitting Issue 94

Nothing in a knitting magazine attracts me more than a patterned labelled "Quick and Easy". In some cases, of course, this turns out to be an outrageous lie but happily not so with Louise Butt's study gifts set from June's Simply Knitting.

There were 6 patterns in total, but I narrowed it down to the knitted notebook cover and the felted crochet bowl.

First up, the A6 notebook cover, which I knitted using Paton's Fairytale Dreamtime DK in a vibrant shade of orange. The yarn is 100% wool, but quite smooth to knit with. The notebook cover is knitted in a single piece with 3.75mm needles. There is a simple garter stitch / stocking stitch section for the inner cover and then a 6 row pattern for the main section.

The making up entailed sewing the sections at each end of the cover to form pockets to wrap around the covers of the notebook. This is where the trouble started. It turns out that 2cm is not really enough to make the cover fit snugly around the notebook of its own accord. I think you'd need nearer 6cm to make it work. Also, the main body of the cover was curling up a bit and not reaching the edge of the notebook.

So, blocking time. I can count the number of times I've blocked anything on one hand, so I wasn't terribly confident. Nonetheless, I ironed the reverse side of the knitted fabric to fold over the edges and flatten the piece. Then I used 10 paperclips to fasten the cover in place on an old A6 notebook. I then sprayed the lot with water (hence the old notebook) and left for 24 hours.

Next day, the cover was behaving itself quite a bit more, so I transferred it to my new A6 notebook. For security, I glued the cover with Bostik All Purpose Glue to the inside covers of the notebook.

Finally, I sewed on a Miffy fabric covered button from my stash my way of embellishment.

The crochet bowl proved quite a bit easier. It is made using Rico Creative Filz, which is a 100% merino yarn, especially designed for felting. I happened to have a ball in stash, so set off with my 6mm hook.

The bowl is mainly constructed from treble crochet. As my crochet skills mostly stop at double, I had a quick read up to remind myself of how to treble.

The bowl crocheted up superfast and I finished it in one session. I sent it for a 50 degree rapid wash in the machine and it looked sufficiently felted whilst retaining some muted stitch definition. To dry, I stuffed the bowl with plastic bags to hold the shape.

Now, I don't often save magazine patterns once I've completed them, as I don't usually make anything twice, but I'm going to hang on to these two as they will make pretty gifts. Might add a few centimetres to each side of the notebook cover though...

Melx

Toft Alpaca Beginner Blanket Kit

Ode to Alpacas

I love alpacas. They are so cute. I saw some up close at last year's Woolfest and I now fantasise regularly about owning my own flock. In the meantime, I have to make do with knitting with alpaca yarn and where better to go than the fantastic Toft Alpaca Shop.

The Beginner's Blanket kit was advertised in an email. Not cheap at £80, but you get 800g of their lovely chunky alpaca / wool blend yarn and the printed pattern.I went for cream yarn on this occasion, as I knit far too much grey already.

The blanket is knitted using the yarn double on 20mm needles. The pattern suggested using circular needles due to the number of stitches and the weight of the yarn. However, I had  a go with my 16" long 20mm straight needles, which were fine, albeit a little bit heavy as the blanket grew.

The pattern is simply 30 stitches in moss stitch until you run out of yarn and then you cast off. I finally learned that moss stitch with an even number of stitches is knit one, purl one on the first row and then purl one, knit one on the second row. Up until now, I've avoided even numbered moss stitch because I wasn't sure what to do. Durr!

The blanket knitted up really quickly. My husband said that I looked like a pixie knitting with my giant needles. After I cast off, I tried to take care with weaving in the ends as I've found they can work loose pretty easily in blankets, especially when you have two pet cats trying to pick the ends out with their claws :)

The finished product is a nice lap blanket; heavy and robust. I'm looking forward to my next alpaca-spotting session at Woolfest 2012 next month.

Melx

Cotton and Cloud Crochet Purse Kit

Who Needs Glue?

I love framed purses and bags and I would really like to be able to make them competently. I've tried both sewn and knitted purses where you glue the fabric into the purse frame. Glue everywhere. Really. Hence, I was very excited when I spotted a pattern advertised in one of my knitting magazines for a crochet sew-in frame purse from Cotton and Cloud.

On closer inspection of Cotton and Cloud's website, I discovered they had a kit for sale. Even better and I ordered it before you could say checkoutwithpaypal.

The £16.50 kit comes with two purse frames, two 25g balls of Jamiesons 100% Pure Shetland Wool in purple and pink and a 4mm crochet hook. I also paid the extra 75p for a printed instruction booklet, although you can get the PDF sent to you by email at no extra charge.

At first I was a bit flummoxed by the pattern. It is crocheted in the round, but rather crocheting in spirals, you go backwards and forwards as if crocheting flat. It made sense when I realised that this is to make the crochet fabric match when you get to the top and crochet the two sides separately to shape the purse.

So, I set off in faith with the pink yarn and produced something of approximately the right size and shape. The bit where I slip stitched to close each round looked a bit dodgy, but I pronounced it broadly okay.

Now for the sewing into the frame. The instructions helpfully directed me to a video tutorial that made it really clear what I needed to so. I then used a thinnish embroidery needle to sew the edge of the crochet fabric into the frame through the pre-drilled holes. The instructions also suggested you could crush the edges of the purse frames with pliers for further security, but I skipped that step as the fabric seemed tucked very firmly into the frame.

The final step was the embellishment. A pattern was provided for a two-colour flower, which I'm afraid I chickened out of. Instead, I made a rosette in the contrasting purple yarn using a flat circle made up of 4 rounds of 6 stitches, then 12, then 18 and then 24. I sewed a pretty ceramic button from my stash to the centre of the circle and then sewed the whole embellishment to my purse.

The purse isn't lined, but, as the instructions point out, the yarn provided makes a very firm fabric that I found gave the purse sufficient structural integrity by itself.

So, no more splotches of glue for me - it's sew-in frames all the way, starting with the second purse in this kit.

Melx

Knitted Eagle Hat

Knit Now Issue 7

 

I've purchased a few issues of Knit Now since it started publication last year. I like the idea that the magazine focuses on accessories rather than garments and it also has nice free gifts. However, I haven't made much from it as I think many of the patterns are actually quite complex for a relative newbie like me.

In Issue 7, though, I was extremely taken by Loraine Birchall's Eagle Hat and Scarf project. The hat was my favourite piece (and looked the easiest) so I duly sent off to Woolly Madly Deeply for the required Lion Brand Alpine Wool. It's great that there's a stockist here in the UK as the Lion Brand website has a great selection of free patterns.

I thought at first that you would knit the eagle design using stranding, but in fact the project recommends using Swiss darning (duplicate stitch), which I hadn't tried before.

To make the basic hat, I began on 6mm circular needles in 1 x 1 rib. I used to be  afraid of rib, worrying that I'd lose concentration half way through, but I got to the end of 12 rounds without any problems. For the rest of hat, I switched to 7mm needles and went happily round and round in stocking stitch until I reached the required length. I then turned the hat inside out and finished with three needle bind off, which I think is so clever.

So, now for the Swiss darning. After a little reading up and and a YouTube video or two, I made a start with the two rounds of alternate red and blue stitches. This was way more difficult than I expected in terms of following the row of stitches without accidentally moving up a row. It took several attempts and I still think there's a bit of a jog up and down in one place.

The eagle motif was actually much easier, being spread over an 8 x 8 grid of stitches. My husband took a while to see that it was in fact an eagle's head but under pressure said it looked very accurate :)

To block, I sprayed the hat lightly with water and dried flat.

The last part of the design was to make two large tassells using all four colours and secure them to the hat. I used the photo in the magazine to guestimate that the tassells were about 3.5 inches long. I got a piece of cardboard of that length and then wrapped each colour round eight times and then repeated once more. I secured the tassel at the top with the main colour and then cut through the wraps at the bottom of the cardboard. I then wrapped the main colour around a few times for extra security and then trimmed the tassel ends to the same length.

Now for tassel number two. I am hopeless at making two of anything the same and, even though I thought I repeated the same steps, I spent ages trimming the second tassel to match the first. Fluff everywhere...

Finally, I sewed the tassells as securely as I could manage to the corners of the hat.

The finished hat is so cute (if I do say so myself, although that might be more down to Loraine than me) that I'm almost sorry that summer is coming and I'll have to wait to show it off...

Melx

Make Your Own Fattie Kitten

You're the one for me, fattie

More sewing this week. This literal ball of fluff is a kit from Cupcakes for Clara's Etsy Shop.

Now, as the possessor of a substantial stash, I don't tend to be concerned by how complete a kit is in terms of having absolutely everything you need to make the finished product. However, I was massively impressed by this kit, which contained absolutely everything you needed, down to the needle and thread. It was also beautifully packaged in a sweet cardboard box and the thread came on dear little spools. Most cute.

To get started, I glued the pattern pieces to thick cardboard and cut them out to make sturdy templates. I then used a trick marker to cut out all the pieces from the high quality felt. There was even enough felt left over to cut additional pieces if you made a mistake, which came in handy when I pricked my finger and bled onto one of the ears.

The body of the kitten is made up of four segments. I used the sewing machine to stitch them together as it was quicker and more sturdy. I was particularly careful to make sure the segments were joined correctly at the top and bottom. I left a small gap in the last join and then turned and stuffed the ball. I then top stitched the body seams by hand as per the pattern, which I think is a really nice design feature.

The next step was to embroider the facial features. I still don't think I'm great at this but I guess practise makes perfect. I then blanket stitched the tail onto the back of the kitten.

The appendages (front paws, back paws and ears) are all made by hand stitching the pieces wrong sides together, lightly padding and then sewing onto the body. At this point, I realised I wasn't sure how to replicate the stitch style in the photograph. One quick convo to Laura Clempson, the designer, and I discovered you needed a neat running stitch in both directions and then a whip stitch over the sides. Mine isn't as good, but it's something I'll definitely be trying on other projects.

Anyway, there's my fattie kitten. I happen to also have a pattern by Laura for a bluebird in the same round design from the book Little Birds, so I'll be tackling that soon..

Melx

Knitted and Crocheted Bees

Happbee Easter

These are my makes from the Easter weekend. Nothing like a theme is there?

First up was the crochet bee from a PDF pattern I purchased at Yarnabee's Etsy shop. The bee is made with aran yarn and a size F (3.75mm) hook. The pattern suggested using a size G, but I've found F is about my right size for amigurumi crochet. I went for mostly non-traditional bee colours, using up some leftover Rooster Almerino Aran from a teapot kit I finished recently. The pattern called for a colour change and to carry the second yarn along. I'd never done that before, so I watched a few YouTube videos and gave it a shot.

The bee is crocheted from a magic circle of 6 double crochet (single crochet for you US folks) and then in a spiral. As usual with amigurumi crochet, you add the safety eyes and stuffing before you close the whole thing off by decreasing. The wings are cleverly made by replicating just the first two rounds of the body pattern and then stitching on. The finished size is a cute but not minuscule 2.5 x 2.5 inches, including the wings.

Next was this knitted busy bee pin cushion from a supplement that came with the May 2012 edition of Knit Today magazine. The pattern book is entitled 50 Quick Knits. Now that's the sort of pattern book I can get excited about, rather than 5 lace patterns that will take you a lifetime to finish (I know, I have no patience).

I used leftover DK from my stash in slightly more traditional bee colours and 3.25mm straight needles to knit the body in stripes. To make up the bee, I backstitched most of the body together and then turned for stuffing, before closing off the cast on edge. I glued some googly eyes onto my bee's face and made a little mouth from red DK.

Now, the pattern didn't include any wings for the bee, which hubby and I both thought made it look a bit odd. So, I used the crochet pattern to make some slightly bigger wings for my pincushion by adding an extra round. Much better don't you think? This bee is a chubby 3.5 x 3.5 inches around without his wings. Seems a bit mean to stick pins in him but I probably will :)

So that's it for my bee crochet/knitting bee. Let's see what creature I get obsessed with
next..

Melx

Baby Fox

I'm sure the chicken is perfectly safe....

I thought I would give the knitting a rest this week and give my sewing machine a workout instead. I've recently become obsessed with foxes, which as just as well as the house is full to the brim of owls, so time for a change. Hence, I jumped at the chance to purchase this new Baby Fox pattern from Bit of Whimsy Dolls.

Handily, I already had a lovely fat quarter of orange fabric from Fabric Rehab. I had actually bought it for another fox-related project but inspiration had struck so I nicked it for this pattern.

As usual with toy projects, I printed out the pattern, glued the pieces onto thick card and cut them out to make sturdy cardboard templates. I drew round the templates onto the back of the fabric with a disappearing pen.

I cut out most of the pieces from the orange fabric and used white felt for the face and inner ears. The fox also has a cute toy chicken (that made me chuckle), that I cut from spotted lemon fabric from Hobbycraft.

I sewed the face to the head by hand - you are supposed to attach it with the sewing machine but I don't have that sort of confidence. I then attached the safety eyes and embroidered the nose.

The sewing machine part mainly consisted of sewing the matching bits right sides together and turning. This was tricky on the arms, legs and ears as you are supposed to use a 1/8th of an inch seam allowance. I had a few issues with seams splitting, which I bodged by hand stitching afterwards.

Once you have the body, arms and ear pieces ready, you make a sandwich with the ears and arms pointing inwards and sew the whole thing together.I had to go back over a couple of areas twice, but it mostly went okay. I then stuffed the fox firmly with toy filler. To finish the fox, you turn up a hem on the bottom of the body and sandwich the top of the legs inside to sew with a visible seam, which actually came out quite neatly.

The little chick is made by sewing two halves of the wings together for each side and then sandwiching them in the body. My chicken's wings are actually on upside down, but hopefully that's not very obvious. The chicken is attached to the fox with a hook and loop circles sewn to the fox's paw and the back of the chicken's head. My hook and loop pads are self-adhesive, but don't work on fabric so I ruined two needles sewing through the adhesive.

The finished size of the fox is 12 inches. His head is a bit lopsided, but he's mostly quite sweet. As ever, I couldn't resist the embellishments box and glued a little orange sparkly heart to the fox's body and tied a rust coloured ribbon around his neck.

Now for a name....

Melx

Knitted Handbag

Simply Knitting Issue 92

My favourite knitting magazine for quality freebies is Simply Knitting. April's issue was no exception, arriving as it did with a set of bag handles and a pattern supplement of cute bag patterns. I selected Amanda Jones' Petite & Pretty grab bag because (a) it looked the easiest, and (b) I had most of the yarn for it in stash.

The majority of the bag is knitted in Bergere de France Galaxie in a shade delightfully christened Supernova, which I happened to have a couple of balls of.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the contrast shade, which should have been a green with the slightly less glamorous moniker of Norma. I didn't want to have to send for one ball of yarn so I had a quick look round and decided that some Sublime Lustrous Extrafine Merino DK in pink used double would do. It retrospect, it was still a bit thin, but I went with it.

The bag is knitted on 7mm circular needles from the bottom up. As the body of the bag is in garter stitch, I found myself in the slightly odd position of having to purl using circulars. The top of the bag was knitted 1x1 rib.

As with all circular knits, the finishing was easy - I weaved in the ends and then mattress stitched the bottom seam.

To attach the handles, you simply oversewed them onto the bag in the contrast yarn. I decided against knitting the flower embellishment in the pattern and instead used a vintage style lace motif from my stash (I think it might be from Melody Ross).

To line the bag, I cut two rectangles of lilac spotty fabric from a fat quarter pack I got from Hobbycraft. I sewed the sides and bottom together on my sewing machine and then folded over the top edge and pressed. I hand sewed the lining into the bag, but then decided it was a bit messy. To cover up the dodgy stitching, I glued a ribbon trim to the top of the lining with fabric glue.

I pronounce the overall result "quite pretty". However, this is quite a delicate bag, possibly useful for carrying feathers or maybe a lace handkerchief. I have a long history of wrecking bags by carrying far too much in them. Hence, it will only be getting an outing when my luggage needs are minimal...

Melx

Chunky Knitted Bear

Let's Knit Issue 53

Why oh why oh why do I torture myself with toy knits. I usually spend the entire project worrying whether I'm going to produce an acceptable cuddly toy or something that will frighten children. I then have to knit faster and faster until I get to the end to see which it will be. Nancy Atkinson's Derek project from April's Let's Knit magazine was no exception.

The pattern used Debbie Bliss Paloma, which I didn't like the look of as it's a chainette yarn. So, I opted for the suggested alternative of Rowan Purelife Chunky in Blue Faced Leicester, which I've used before and loved. The project called for 6mm needles. In retrospect, I think I should have used 5mm as the Purelife has a recommended needle size of 7mm and the Paloma 10mm. I found my bear a little gappy when stuffed in places.

The bear was a traditional toy knit, made flat in mostly stocking stitch and sewn together. As usual, I sewed and stuffed as I went along to prevent getting fed up with making up at the end. So, my husband came home from work to the incongruous sight of a completed bear's head and two arms sat on on the coffee table. That really would frighten children.

My one gripe about the pattern was the feet. You were supposed to separate the stitches and pick more stitches up to make more of a 3D foot. The introduction to the project described Derek as "a quick knit for beginners who have never ventured into toys before". To me, that sentence should not be followed with any instructions that require the picking up of stitches. So, I altered the pattern to do a simple increase row to make the foot shape.

I have to admit that I thought the bear might fall into the "frighten children" category but he began to grow on me once all his parts were assembled. To finish Derek, I knitted him a simple garter stitch scarf on 4mm needles with a lovely variegated yarn I had in stash. I even made some tassells.

Finally, the renaming of the bear. I wasn't keen on Derek. I like to name things after my favourite Sci Fi and Fantasy characters (my cat is named Dexter after Michael C. Hall's character in the serial killer show of the same name). So, Derek is now Eric, named for the hunky Viking vampire in Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series (not the Eric in True Blood but that's a whole other blog...).

Melx

Knitted Mohair Shrug

Knit Today March 2012
One of my rare forays into grown up knitting this week with Pat Menchini's A Little Luxury project from issue 70 of Knit Today. This was also a big knit for me with no fewer than five balls of King Cole Merino Blend Chunky and three balls of King Cole Luxury Mohair.

The magazine used Eucalyptus in the chunky and Montreux in the mohair. That was a bit, well beige, for my taste so I opted for the French Navy with Roma for a nice variegated blue effect.

The shrug is knitted in two halves on 9mm needles using the chunky and the mohair held together. Each half comprised six repeats of an 18 row x 40 stitches pattern. As it was kind of challenging, I limited myself to one pattern repeat per day.

The thing I found most tricky was the cables - I haven't done many and find it challenging to keep hold of the cable needle. I was also perturbed to find holes in the back of the work. I looked this up online and apparently, this is perfectly normal. On close inspection, I even found holes in my shop-bought cabled cardigan. I did read some stuff about how you could avoid the holes by twisting this or knitting into the back of that, but decided if you were meant to do such a thing it would say so in the pattern.

With the odd gained and lost stitch, I finally got to the end with something that vaguely resembled the magazine picture. I weaved my ends in carefully (I've discovered recently that I'm very sloppy with my weaving in and ends keep popping out on things that get a lot of use). I then mattress stitched the two halves together and tried it on. Not sure I look much like the model in the magazine but it definitely looks like a shrug.

One thing I really liked about the project was that I could tell early on that I wasn't going to run out of yarn. Indeed, I had a reasonable amount of both the chunky and the mohair left. I liked using them together so much that I made this little pouch with 15 stitches of 5 x 5 x 5 rib on 8mm needles. I used a lovely ceramic Injabulo hedgehog button with a crochet chain to fasten the pouch.

So, I feel like I've pushed myself a little bit on this project, but perhaps not quite enough to be contemplating knitting a sweater any time soon...

Melx

Knit Your Own Sleepy Owl Kit

Or wide awake owl..

Another kit this week, this time from my long-standing favourites The Little Knit Kit Company. They have just launched this super cute owl kit and, given how rewarding I'd found their previous kits, I was keen to try it.

The kit cost £15 and came with everything to make the owl - yarn, stuffing, felt, thread and plastic needle. I passed on the knitting needles as I have just strimmed my vast collection down to a reasonable number of pairs per size.

Like many of the other Little Knit Kit Company designs, the owl is knitted entirely in garter stitch on 4mm needles using a chunky yarn to give a nice firm fabric. What was intriguing this time was the use of stripes and multiple colour changes. At first, I was tempted to try and join in all the colours without knotting and weave in the ends to show how clever I was, but then I realised that was kind of dum and followed the pattern. This advocated the far more sensible approach of joining the new colour in with a knot and then simply hiding the ends inside the toy.

To make the owl's body, you make two identical pieces and I'm proud to say that mine actually match stripe for stripe. I then back stitched the sides of the body together, hiding all the ends and then mattress stitched the top.

To create a more owl-like shape, I pulled the ears out and also stretched the lower half of the fabric a little. I used the toy filling provided to stuff the owl and also added a bag of plastic pellets to weight the bottom and enable the owl to stand up on his own a little better. I then closed the bottom of the owl with mattress stitch.

The owl's wings are simple garter stitch rectangles that you gather at the end to create some shape and then stitch onto the body.

As I'm still on a bit of a crochet jag, I decided to substitute the sleepy felt eyes that came with the kit for some safety eyes surrounded by a white crochet ring.

Idiotically, I mislaid the templates for the beak and feet, so cut them freehand from felt and glued them on with some Tacky Glue.

And there he is, so simple to knit yet a really nice finished design with (in my view anyway), quite a sophisticated vintage look.

Melx

Knit Your Own Valentine Bunny Kit

My what a pretty dress you're wearing... 


This is a lovely 100% wool knit kit that I purchased from Made by Ewe's Etsy Shop for $26. I have also purchased a couple of the cute sheep kits on sale in the store but they are in my "queue". For some reason, bunny got to jump to the top.


She is knitted on 4mm needles, which seemed a little larger then usual for DK toy knits but it worked fine. The kit includes British wool for all the parts of the rabbit so I started with the grey for the body. The bunny is a traditional toy knit made flat and then sewed up, so there was a head, four ears, two bodies, two arms and two legs to wade through.


I adopted my usual technique of sewing up and stuffing as I went along. As with most toy knits, I had grave misgivings until it all came together at the end. My husband was no help at all when I asked him if he thought I had sewn my bunny's arms on too low (rabbits don't have arms apparently). As it is, my bunny is about 3 inches smaller than the kit suggests it should be, but t looks nicely in proportion so I refuse to worry.


The dress was the most fun yet the hardest to knit. I've done my back in quite badly and had just started some new pain killers that didn't really help (my concentration - they were quite beneficial for my back). Decreasing whilst in rib was a whole new experience but I'm giving myself an A for effort.


Finally, I knitted the little garter stitch heart in two pieces and sewed it together. The kit did include some lovely natural fleece to use as stuffing for the rabbit, but I forgot all about it and used ordinary polyester toy filling. However, I did use the fleece for a subsequent project and can attest it is really nice.


Well, there she is - ever so cute and the wool she is made of is just fabulous. This may just motivate me to get on with my sheep kits and also the owl kit I just bought...


Melx

Crochet Amigurumi Ood

Ood to my Valentine... 


Ever since my husband and I started dating, some 17 years ago now, we've always made each other something handmade for Valentine's Day. This used to be simple cards but in recent years the tradition has escalated to a highly competitive form of expressing our love for one another. A couple of weeks before Valentine's Day, we each disappear into our respective creative spaces to plan our "concept", which much remain highly secret until the big day. Supplies must be smuggled into the house and the other spouse kept out various rooms until the creation is complete.


For my offering this year, I chose this supercute amigurumi Ood from a fantastic free pattern from Megan DeLancey that I found on Ravelry. For the non-fan, the Ood is a creature from the BBC1 show Doctor Who. The Ood are a peaceful race, whom The Doctor (played by David Tenant) liberates from slavery in the fourth series with help from his companion, Donna (played by Catherine Tate).


My husband is a massive fan of Doctor Who and I thought this would be the ideal handmade gift, except for the small matter of making it. I have been crocheting for less than a year and my skills are significantly less advanced than my knitting ones (which aren't that advanced either).


Anyway, despite my ambition outstripping my competence, I set out in faith and bought some Rowan Creative Focus Worsted for the body and head. It was probably a fluffier yarn than ideal for crochet but I needed a proper buff colour so the white I used for the brain(!) would stand out properly.


I crocheted the body with a size F (3.75mm) hook. I made the two legs and then crocheted around them to start the body. I turned the crochet inside out so the "right" side was showing (I read about that in a book - it never seems to get mentioned in patterns though). I then switched to the buff coloured yarn for the head. I think I did an okay job of keeping the stitches tight, which is essential for amigurumi. However, my decreases for the top of the head were a bit holey so I patched them up a bit with a needle and yarn. Before completing the head, I attached the black safety eyes and stuffed the toy with fiber fill.


Funnily enough, the bit I found hardest was the Ood's arms. My treble crochet just didn't look right so I simplified the pattern a bit and hoped for the best. For the tentacles, I used some left over DK red and a size E (3.5mm) hook). They were a bit awkward to crochet as you start them with a slip stitch into the face so you don't have very much room to move. I don't think I did them quite correctly, but I don't think they look bad.


Finally, I made the brain from some leftover white DK and attached it the Ood's hand. I was secretly rather pleased with it when I'd finished and I'm very grateful to Megan for her ace pattern.


Come Valentine's Day, hubby was suitably impressed with his Ood and all the hard work I had put in. Then he ruined it by giving me this.

This is an 8mm crochet hook on which he has sculpted and painted a Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas, my favourite film. He even made it a coffin shaped box. Hubby is sickeningly talented and his gift is always better than mine (his protests than my Ood was superior were a bit weak).


Maybe next year...


Melx

Toft Alpaca Pom Pom Scarf Kit

Who said garter stitch is boring? 

This creation is my birthday gift from my husband, which I knitted within exactly one week and two days of receiving it. The kit came from Toft Alpaca and was fairly dear for a scarf at £69 (not that I should be looking as it was a present).

The kit comprised three 100g balls of alpaca aran from the range of natural shades Toft stock. I chose silver, which is not the same as grey, honest. The kit comes with four alpaca fur pom poms, which are unbelievably soft. Now, I never thought I would have any clothing featuring real fur. However, according to the Toft website, the fur comes from young alpacas who have died from natural causes in Peru, so the poms poms are both ethically sourced and fair trade.

Knitting the scarf was actually a real joy. It was made on 4.5mm needles all in garter stitch. You start with some simple increasing, then work straight (for a long time!) and finally knit three prongs of 10 stitches separately. The yarn was lovely to knit with and the whole thing was very zen. Some people find excessive garter stitch dull, but I found it rather relaxing.

After weaving in the ends, the final stage was to attach the pom poms. They come with a sort of string that I sewed and then knotted through the starting end of the scarf and then through each prong.

The scarf is almost too nice to wear. I caught my youngest cat, Dexter, eyeing up the poms poms, so perhaps I should make good use of it before he does!

Melx

Rowan Moss Stitch Purse & Heart Cushion

Making friends with moss stitch 

I can't help noticing that quite a lot of my knitting has been recently has been, well, grey. There were my grey bunny slippers last week and my grey cat the week before. This week, we have a grey purse and a grey cushion. I could argue that technically they are not grey but rather "pigeon", which is the cute name given to this particular shade of Rowan Alpaca Chunky.

The patterns come from the Rowan Winter Warmers book. I always feel terribly grown when I knit Rowan patterns, even though I'm not keen on them as I find them rather stilted and inaccessible as a fairly newbie knitter.

Anyway, first up was the purse. For some reason, I've never quite got to grips with moss stitch even though knit one, purl one doesn't see that hard. Anyway, this time I managed to produce a 17 stitch rectangle on 10mm needles. The pattern used a loop closure, which I wasn't keen on so I made a proper button hole between a few rows of garter stitch instead.

I mattress stitched the sides of the purse and then sewed on a nice wooden button to make up the purse. The pattern suggested making a lining for the entire inside of the purse, including the flap. I don't think this works too well (fabric too floppy) and besides you only really need to line the bit where you are going to put things. So, I made a lining excluding the flap from a Cath Kidston fat quarter and some interfacing on my sewing machine. I then slip stitched it by hand into the purse.

The second moss stitch make in the same yarn was this cushion. I followed the chart to make the moss stitch heart on the front. It's very subtle but you can see it in the right light (but possibly not in this terrible photograph!). I had to pull some rows back when I forgot to change stitches for the centre of the heart as well the edges. Doh!

The pattern used a fabric backing for the cushion but I had (by the absolute skin of my teeth and I had to weigh the yarn to check) enough pigeon left to knit a stocking stitch back for the cushion.

I back stitched three sides of the front and back of the cushion together, stuffed it with toy filler and then mattress stitched the final edge. In retrospect, I wish I had made a cushion pad instead as you can sometimes see the stuffing though the heart if you plump the cushion the wrong way. I now obsessively reshape it every five minutes so you can't see the filling.

So, I feel like I've got to grips with moss stitch at least a smidge. I'm now knitting an alpaca scarf. Can you guess what colour it is?

Melx